Man fights to gain control of his late sister’s Montrose home after investigators say it was fraudulently sold

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A man is fighting to gain control of his late sister’s Montrose home after investigators say it was fraudulently sold.

Suzanne Donisi bought the house at 1510 Stanford in 1976.

“She was actually one of the first women to be able to purchase a house,” Donisi’s brother Art said.

Toward the end of her life, Art Donisi said his sister began to suffer from dementia and she was placed in a care home in the spring of 2023.

Yet without his knowledge, in June 2023, the house was sold to a company called Midtown Partners, which prosecutors say doesn’t appear to exist.

“The first thing I saw was the signature on there and I said, ‘That’s not her signature.’ I mean, I can tell,” he said.

Art Donisi said he didn’t learn about the sale until July 2024. His attorneys would later uncover not just one sale, but three.

In January 2024, Midtown Partners sold the house to a Wyoming-registered company called Sierra Capitol LLC.

Sierra Capitol sold it to Mazzarino Construction in July 2024 for $320,000 – well below its appraised value.

Prosecutors have charged Lileana Valadez, co-owner of a company called EADO Construction, with theft.

Of the sale proceeds, they say $178,000 went to Valadez’s company while another $80,000 went to Valadez’s mother.

Not only do prosecutors say Donisi’s signature was forged, but they say so were the signatures of the notaries who appear on the deeds.

One was in a care home herself at the time she allegedly signed a deed.

“Once all these things were pointed out to me, I was like, ‘How does this kind of stuff happen?'” “Do they just go through and just rubber stamp it?” Donisi said.

Donisi’s attorney, Cris Feldman, said Mazzarino Construction appears to have bought the house in good faith.

He said it will likely be able to recoup its money even once the house is transferred back to Donisi’s family.

“There should be title insurance on this closing that they had that would reimburse them for the scam,” said Feldman.

Valadez is also accused of stealing a second home.

She didn’t return a message seeking comment.

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